Běi zhēng jì 北征記
Record of the Northern Campaign by 伏韜 (Fú Tāo, fl. Eastern Jin dynasty) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A fragmentary geographic record composed during or after a northward military expedition, attributed to Fú Tāo 伏韜 of the Eastern Jin period. Fú Tāo is distinct from the Han-dynasty Fú Tāo 伏韜 and from other homonymous figures; the Eastern Jin geographic context places this work in the fourth century CE. The text records observations of historical sites along a northern campaign route, touching Pèngchéng 彭城 (Xuzhou), the Central Plains, Huá Mountain 華山, and Shānyáng 山陽 county. It is cited in medieval encyclopedic sources.
Abstract
The four surviving passages cover:
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Sòng Huán Tuī’s stone coffin 宋桓魋石槨 at Pèngchéng 彭城: “Six lǐ north of Pengcheng city there is a mountain on the bank of the Sī River, with the stone coffin of Sòng Huán Tuī 宋桓魋 [the Sòng-state minister who threatened Confucius]. There are fine stones carved in bas-relief with images of turtles, dragons, Chinese unicorns, and phoenixes.” Records early pictorial stone carving associated with the Spring-Autumn period.
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Bǎi Gǔ Valley 柏谷 in Gǔ county 谷邑: “This valley is where Hàn Emperor Wǔ traveled incognito and was accosted by an old man [according to Shǐjì accounts]. There is no room to turn a carriage around in the valley; high plateaus flank it on both sides, the cypress forests are dense and shady, dark through the whole day, barely ever seeing sunlight.” Confirmation of the Han-period legend’s landscape.
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Huá Mountain and Shǒuyáng Mountain 首陽山: “Huá Mountain faces Hé-dōng’s Shǒuyáng Mountain 首陽山 across the Yellow River, with the river flowing between them. Tradition holds they were originally one mountain, cleft apart by the Giant Spirit (Jùlíng 巨靈). The handprints can still be seen on Huá Mountain, the footprints on the base of Shǒuyáng Mountain.” An early attestation of the Giant Spirit / Huashan legend.
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Jī Kāng’s garden and former residence 嵇康園宅 at Shānyáng county 山陽縣: “Twenty lǐ north of Shānyáng county is the garden and former residence of Jī Kāng 嵇康, Wèi Zhōng Sàn Dàfū (Gentleman of the Imperial Secretariat). Today it is all field and wasteland, but the elders still call it ‘Jī Gōng’s bamboo grove land,’ since bamboo remains there from time to time.” A poignant record of the physical remnants of Ji Kang’s Shanyang retreat, one of the canonical sites of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- ctext.org search: https://ctext.org/search.pl?if=en&search=北征記